20x9 ET29 w255/35R20s & lowered. Fitment Issues? Vogtland springs experience? Tunes?

[PKmode]

Hey all. I'm a long time Audi enthusiast. This is my 9th Audi and my first C7. I've got a few questions, first about my wheel/tire/sping combo, and then about different tunes.

I recently picked up my A6 Prestige and quickly purchased a set of new Michelin X-Ice Xi3 tires for the stock 18s. I have now also purchased a set of Vogtland lowering springs, a set of B8.5 RS4 20x9" ET29 'flower pedal' reps and some 255/35R20 Hankook Ventus Evo2s. This will be my primary set of wheels for April-November, while the 18s are the dedicated winter set. I also picked up a set of Husky Liners, weatherbeater floor mats and will tint the windows in the next month or so.

Here's a couple pics of my boring stock, A6 I took the other day.




Here is a pic of the flower pedal wheels on a B8.


I'm curious if anyone has run these wheels before, (if so I'd love to see pics) and how the fitment is? The sales guys told me they had them on a local car, (C7A6 that is) without spacers and they look amazing. Well, he's a sales guy so I'd love to hear from someone who actually has them. I'm hoping not to need spacers and not to rub. I'm also hoping that despite them being a replica, they will be of decent quality (won't bend or break with normal bumps in road).

Also curious on the Vogtland springs. I see most who do springs are running H&R but I bought the Vogtlands for a few reasons.
1) Even though both Mfgs claim a 1.4" drop, I hear the Vogtlands are a touch higher than the H&Rs, which is preferred as I don't want to scrape or rub. I know in other platforms, this was the case with their springs.
2) I've also read they are a more compliant ride, more closely resembling stock ride quality. Again, preferred.
3) Finally, with a BF sale, they were 50% off making them substantially cheaper than the H&Rs even though normally the Vogtlands are more expensive.

I had previously run a set of Vogtland GT C/Os on one of my B5S4s and was pleased with the quality but have never run just the springs. I realize I won't have the flexibilty of the C/Os but I'm not looking for crazy performance with this car. Just a stylish cruiser with handling characteristics at least equal to stock. I can handle a few extra bumps but don't want to bottom out everywhere I go and don't want a wishy-washy suspension either. I also wanted to maintain the dynamic ride control so everything appears to work as OEM.

Tunes: I'm looking to go stg2 right away. Of course I looked at APR and GIAC. I'm curious as to what else I should consider before pulling the trigger? I want the extra punch but don't want to sacrifice reliability. I realize there is some trade off but these are fairly well proven and I won't be beating on the car constantly.

I'm just saying hello and hoping some may have experience with some of these products directly. I did search around a bit but couldn't find many with 1st hand experience on either directly. Please chime in if you can.

[Brooklyn]

EDIT: My wheels are ET 40. ET 29 might be too aggressive for the A6. Take a look at the wheel image thread here to see if anyone else has made that work on an A6. I do know that Pandi here was able to run a set of BC Forged wheels from his B8 on his C7 A6. Did he tell you the name of the company making the wheels? Not all replicas are created equal.

[PKmode]

Thanks for the quick responses. I've emailed asking who the manufacturer is and recognize the real question relates to the porosity of the metal when pouring the castings. I am a CNC sales engineer by trade and understand metal properties. As far as the offsets, they told me depending on spoke design, the A6 is wide open accepting wheel offsets from ET25-45.

Thanks for the pics pandi. Looks like I made the right choice in not going with 19" peelers. They look as small as my 18s. I just hope for a good fitment and decent quality out of these cast wheels.

[yeuchau]

I have 20x9 et25 on my car, no issues

[pandi]

Thanks for the quick responses. I've emailed asking who the manufacturer is and recognize the real question relates to the porosity of the metal when pouring the castings. I am a CNC sales engineer by trade and understand metal properties. As far as the offsets, they told me depending on spoke design, the A6 is wide open accepting wheel offsets from ET25-45.

Thanks for the pics pandi. Looks like I made the right choice in not going with 19" peelers. They look as small as my 18s. I just hope for a good fitment and decent quality out of these cast wheels.

you're welcome.

[JoeGie]

i have 20x9 +25 with a 255/35/20 on my s6, lowered with the module at the lowest setting, I have no issues also.

[arrivalanche]

GIAC isnt as reliable as APR from what Ive seen. Id go with a brand that is proven quality.

[S6Express]

I have 21 x 9.5 ET 35 wheels with 265/30 tires on my S6. Lowered about 20mm with NO rubbing whatsoever.

[PKmode]

Thanks, guys. I feel pretty confident in the wheels and tires now. Always a good thing as I already spent the money.

arrivalanche: Do you have any specific examples? I've had APR tunes in the past as well as GIAC. In my experience, APR tends to be a little more conservative in regards to timing and boost profiles but typically has very similar performance. This is one reason I've liked them in the past as I feel you're not wringing out the car as much to get every once of performance. The question I would have in this application would be how their tunes related to real world, premature failures of related components? Example: Early failure of the supercharger components (maybe bearings for example). As an example of their tunes causing problems, in their B5S4 tunes, they requested substantially more boost than the APR file. Resulting in the tiny K03s being overspun outside of their efficiency. Now add some poor maintenance like a boost like and compound the problem and those were ticking time bombs. In contrast, I had an APR tune on my 1st B5S4 and the turbos lasted me through my ownership and the next guys.

Regardless, I'm asking because I don't have experience with this platform(3.0T in general), yet and haven't been hanging around long enough to see long term problems surface. I look forward to learning more from others and more helpful insight.

[zcd2.7t]

...Regardless, I'm asking because I don't have experience with this platform(3.0T in general), yet and haven't been hanging around long enough to see long term problems surface. I look forward to learning more from others and more helpful insight.

Having moved from a B8 S4 (3.0T) to a C7 S6 (4.0T), my suggestion would be that you peruse the B8 S4 forums on the various Audi sites. TONS of info (some good, some bad) there regarding tunes, plus very active forums. No disrespect to this forum, but there's not really much info here on tuning for the 3.0T.

My S4 had a STaSIS v2.0 (i.e. REVO) tune, and ran strong for a "tune only" car. The GIAC guys and APR guys like to argue who's best. To me, they seem essentially equal. You might consider buying from whichever has the physically closest/best dealer.

RE: Supercharger - don't worry about it. Unless you're pushing to be the fastest C7 A6 out there, the supercharger itself won't be an issue.

[PKmode]

Thanks. That's what I started doing. I've driven a few different APR stg2 B8S4s and know GIAC wouldn't be much different. I understand this group is typically going to have less performance orientated guys as the A6 by nature is less of a sporty vehicle. Even the S6, while incredible, is by nature, less of a sports sedan because of it's inherit size. Still, I figured I'd ask while hear as there might be issues related to the ZF that don't apply to the B8s manual or DCT.

[AudiA6A5]

I just acquired these....



20x9 et37 255/35/20, will need spacers to clear front calipers. Put on the 20mm I had for now, but 5-10mm should be perfect.

Congrats on your new ride!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PKmode]

Thanks for the post. How do they ride?

That's the look but yours are ET37 vs mine ET29. I'm hoping not to run spacers but we'll see what they look like. The wheels show up today but I won't be putting the springs in until March or so. I'll likely mount up one side just to get an idea of fitment as far as the offset.

That's pretty much what my car should look like except for the offset....and grill... and full LEDs. I want the LEDs but it looks like that is not an option to retrofit. The costs are outrageous. I'll option for them with the next car.

[AudiA6A5]

Thanks for the post. How do they ride?

That's the look but yours are ET37 vs mine ET29. I'm hoping not to run spacers but we'll see what they look like. The wheels show up today but I won't be putting the springs in until March or so. I'll likely mount up one side just to get an idea of fitment as far as the offset.

That's pretty much what my car should look like except for the offset....and grill... and full LEDs. I want the LEDs but it looks like that is not an option to retrofit. The costs are outrageous. I'll option for them with the next car.

I just got them yesterday and had them mounted this morning. They have summers on them so i'm only going to have them on for a week or so. As of yesterday I was going to wait until spring to put them on.....by this morning I had to at least see what they were going to look like lol.

Replacement LEDs may have come down in price especially if you can find a used set from someone who swapped out with the euro version.

[PKmode]

I test fitted these on Friday night. Looks like it should be a nice fit. Really close fender wider-wise once the tire is on and the car dropped. I'm thinking with the drop they should tuck. No need for spacers on the caliper side and the suspension upright should have ample tire clearance as well. Worst case, I'll have to do a slight roll of the fender to make sure the tires doesn't hit the screws for the fender liners under compression from bumps.

Here are a few shots from the test fit. Sorry about the dirty car.

[AudiA6A5]

You know what I think :) 👍🏼.....now just paint those calipers! 😜

[jmeenach]

Thanks for the quick responses. I've emailed asking who the manufacturer is and recognize the real question relates to the porosity of the metal when pouring the castings. I am a CNC sales engineer by trade and understand metal properties. As far as the offsets, they told me depending on spoke design, the A6 is wide open accepting wheel offsets from ET25-45.

Thanks for the pics pandi. Looks like I made the right choice in not going with 19" peelers. They look as small as my 18s. I just hope for a good fitment and decent quality out of these cast wheels.

OP, what vendor are you working with? I need to replace one of my 20x9 et29s on my B8.5, as I damaged one while accidentally hitting a pothole the size of Texas. Sorry to thread jack!